| April 1, 2016 |
| New Developments |
| Second Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Asbestos Defendant for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction By David Dean In February 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld dismissal of an out-of-state corporate defendant for lack of personal jurisdiction in an asbestos case, Brown v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 14-4083 |
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This week, the Illinois Supreme Court enforced the exclusive remedy provisions of the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Act and the Worker’s Occupational Disease Act (“the Statutes”) for latent diseases, including asbestos-related diseases that fall outside the 25-year limit of the statute of repose. The Court’s 4-2 decision in Folta v. Ferro Engineering, No. 118070 (Ill. Sup. Ct.) means plaintiffs can no longer successfully argue that the long latency period for mesothelioma renders their asbestos claims “non-compensable” as to their employers. Thus, their claims no longer meet that exception of the Statutes’ exclusive remedy bar.
On September 8, 2014, the state of Illinois begins accepting applications for medicinal marijuana dispensary and cultivation center permits. Under the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, passed last year, Illinois will grant one cannabis cultivation permit for each of its 22 state police districts and as many as 60 medicinal marijuana dispensary permits throughout the state.
A trend has emerged across the country whereby more courts are rejecting the every exposure theory in asbestos litigation. This theory, also referred to the single fiber theory, is used by plaintiffs in asbestos litigation to argue that a single fiber is substantially causative of asbestos-related diseases.
